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Brokers at Wall Street giants are increasingly breaking away to start out on their own, taking clients with them, amid the collapse of some of the industry’s big players and the battered image of others, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Cerulli Associates, which last year forecast that financial advisers quitting leading firms would take $188bn (€131.4bn) in client accounts with them in 2009, expects the trend to continue this year.

The Boston research agency estimates that by 2012, top Wall Street brokerages will see their market share of the money-management mandates of individual investors decline from 48% at the end of 2008 to 41%. In contrast, the independent advisers will enjoy a increase in their share, from 19% to more than 23%, Cerulli says.